Pope Francis’ Prayer for Peace

Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!
We have tried so many times and over so many years to resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms. How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced; how much blood has been shed; how many lives
have been shattered; how many hopes have been buried… But our efforts have been in vain.Now, Lord, come to our aid! Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace. Open our eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: "Never again war!"; "With war everything is lost". Instil in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace. Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters. Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister.
Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace, our trepidation into confident trust, and our quarrelling into forgiveness. Keep alive within us the flame of hope, so that with patience and perseverance we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation. In this way may peace triumph at last, and may the words "division", "hatred" and "war" be banished from the heart of every man and woman. Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands. Renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which always brings us together will be "brother", and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam! Amen.

Dear Friends,

Tomorrow we farewell Holly Shaw as she prepares for the birth of her first child- so exciting!  We welcome Ethan Hart in 4 Red for the remainder for 2023.

We are coming to that time of the year, when we are planning and formulating classes for 2024.  Our class allocations for next year will be as follows: 

Kinder x 3 classes

Year 1 x 2 classes

Year 2 x 2 classes

Year 3 x 3 classes

Year 4 x 2 classes

Year 5 x 2 classes

Year 6 x 2 classes

From this, you will notice that we will again not be having any multi ageing classes across the school.  Due to the increased numbers in some class groups,we may also be changing where year groups classrooms are situated in the school for 2024.

When considering class compositions there is many factors to take into account. As  a PYP school, collaboration is an essential component of your child's learning, and although students are placed in home rooms with a specific teacher, there are many occasions throughout the day or week, where classes are mixed or opened for differing groupings, based on the learning occurring. If a parent has a particular concern regarding the placement of their child/ren in classes, this should be written in an email to me by Friday Week 4, 3rd November, and this concern will be considered seriously. However, there are no definite guarantees regarding parent requests as there is much to consider as stated above.  Please note, teacher requests are not to be included in these emails. Also requests from other years will need to be sent again if they still stand for the 2024 year. 

As we have done in previous years, I will not be asking teachers to have students  send home sociograms to be considered in their class for 2023.  It is an unreal expectation that school can accommodate all requests, including friendships, and teachers, as professionals, who spend the majority of the day with children, need to be trusted to make the right decisions around learning.  Even with the best designed plans in place, every year there are always students and parents who feel their child's friendships or circumstances have changed between the time of drafting class lists and the start of the school year.  Many of these changes are out of control of the family or school.  For example, the child wants to be with different students or has a falling out with friends late in the term or over the holidays, a child leaves the school and leaves them without one of the friends on the socio gram and so on. 

Be assured your child's teacher and other key staff in the school know our students well and have information and data about them which assists in placing them in the best class for 2024.  Children are more resilient than we often give them credit for and they will able to learn and enjoy school in whichever class they are placed. There is also much time given to transition for particular students, depending on their individual needs, including a transition staff meeting, where staff from 2023 will share knowledge about students to their teachers for 2024.  On Tuesday 13th December, students (including those Year 1-6 new to the school) will also be placed in their class for 2024, with their new teacher (where possible) to spend some time together in preparation for the new year.  Class lists will then be emailed to all families on the last day of the year and no changes will be made to the class lists after this. 

Please see below to view our Holy Trinity Class Allocation Policy:

Rather than a donation we are asking students to wear a red piece of clothing (T-Shirt, socks, hair ribbon etc). However, if you wish to make a donation please click here to head to the Day for Daniel webpage.

Emily Capper
Religious Education Coordinator 

Quality Improvement in the ELC

The ELC is committed to continual quality improvement. We highly value your input and ask you complete the survey in the link here. There are 7 questions with the option for written feedback on each question. It should take no longer than 2 minutes.

Stay and Play

Stay and Play is a playgroup for pre-preschoolers and their carer each Wednesday in school term 9am-10am in the ELC Adventure Garden (weather permitting). All families and the broader community are welcome to attend.

On Friday we had the opportunity to attend the Future of Education Ideas Summit. Sharing a table with school principals and other delegates from the ACT government we talked about what education is like now, and came up with big picture ideas for what the future of Education could look like. A highlight of the day was the Welcome to Country by Celina Walker who inspired us with a story reinforcing the importance of acceptance. Having the opportunity to speak on behalf of primary students was a huge responsibility and we felt privileged to attend.

Chloe Bauer and Erin Reilly

ACT School Sport

Soccer

Holy Trinity extends its congratulations to Maggie P, year 6, on her remarkable achievement of being chosen to represent the ACT at the School Sports National Soccer Championships in Melbourne. Notably, Maggie was appointed as a co-captain, demonstrating exceptional leadership and skills in her role. 

Under Maggie's co-captaincy, the ACT team secured a commendable 6th place overall, showcasing their talent and dedication on the national stage. Their noteworthy victories included triumphs over NT (6-1) and SA (2-0), along with a well-fought draw against WA (1-1). 

Maggie's outstanding performance at this prestigious event stands as a testament to her potential, and we eagerly anticipate her continued progress and success as she matures in her sporting endeavours.

ACT School Sport

Oz-Tag

Congratualations to Grace F, Mary B and Henry B who recently competed in the Oztag National Championships in Coffs Harbour representing the ACT in the under 9 boys and the under 12 girls.

Grace and Mary’s team played a great tournament but went down in the quarterfinals.

On Thursday the 19^th of October, our Year 3/4 boys basketball team battled it out in the finals day of the Jamie Pearlman Cup, having won the South Tournament earlier in Term Three. The boys were victorious against Macgregor beating them 17-12. Coming up against a much bigger Farrer team  in the final proved too much. The boys played their hearts out but went down in the end, ending up as runners up on the ACT tournament, a terrific achivement.

The team members included: Harry M, Henry B, George H, Valerios K, Ethan A, Oliver M, Joseph L, Mitch W, Connor P, and Max B.

Well Done Boys.

Tennis

On Friday, the 20th of October, two teams representing Holy Trinity took part in the ACT Finals Day of the Todd Woodbridge Cup. The competition was fierce as our teams faced off against some of the top contenders in the ACT. Ultimately, it was the Holy Trinity Team 1 that distinguished itself, securing the coveted first place, while Holy Trinity Team 2 earned a respectable fourth place.

This achievement was a testament to the dedication and sportsmanship exhibited by all participating students throughout the event. We thank Mr Roweth for his guidance and coaching of the students!

Ben Davis

Sports Coordinator

2023 Yearbook Cover Competition

Calling all artists!

This year we are holding a compeittion to design the cover of our Holy Trinity Yearbook. Our theme for the year has been 'Walking Together', using this as your inspiration we invite entries from Kindergarten to Year 6.  

Your design can be black and white or colour and needs to be on an A4 sheet of white paper or card.

Entries need to be submitted to Mrs Sheargold by Friday October 27. The winning entry will be on the cover of the 2023 Yearbook.

The ELC welcomed Anthony (dad to Raphael) into the Black Cockatoo class to teach the children about traditional bush food from our local area, and then did some plantings in the ELC Adventure Garden with the children. We will continue to nurture and grow these plants, and use them to engage our senses and connect with country.

Enhancing our teaching and learning by engaging Aboriginal people from our community is one of our 16 goals of our Holy Trinity Reconciliation Action Plan. Thank you Anthony for sharing your passion, wisdom and knowledge with the preschoolers and ELC educators.

RAP Committee Meeting

The Holy Trinity RAP committee is meeting on Thursday 2 November, 3.30pm-4.30pm. New members from our community are very welcome to attend.

Important Dates - Linked to School Calendar

*Please note that dates can change through out the term

Students celebrating this week: Hunter S, Ilaria E, Amaya N, Sabryna R, Rigsel D